[Rhodes22-list] Brad, flying, airplanes, 'Tort Reform'

[Robert Skinner]

Brad,

While my father never turned away a person who really 
needed help (and there were many who did in the hardscabble 
farms up in the hills), he maintained that it was up to him 
to determine who qualified for free (or reduced rate) care.  

He was damned if he was going to have some bureaucrat tell 
HIM who qualified.  In his view, governments (or insurance 
companies) were not qualified to assess health conditions or 
the immediacy of need -- they are not trained in triage, nor 
do they have humanity.

That was one man's view and way of life.  

Others are too busy counting their profits to give much 
service to their Hippocratic Oath.  When practices have 
"Managers" who are not practicing doctors, they lose the 
human part of medicine.  One doctor in Gorham had the gaul 
to announce in an interview that he regards those who come 
into his office as "Customers", not Patients".  

For me, that crosses the line.

/Robert
-----------------------------------------------------------
Brad Haslett wrote:
> 
> Robert,
> 
> As a kid we didn't have health insurance but we had access to two good
> 'country doctors'.  Dr. Greer was too old to make house calls but Dr.
> Phillips would.  Both would take a pig, a cow, or credit for the bill.  My
> Dad wasn't a farmer but he always found a way to pay the tab.  Mom took me
> to Miller Greer when I was 18 months old because she was convinced there was
> something wrong with me because I didn't walk.  Dr. Greer asked, "Bonnie,
> who do you know that has a younger son that is walking?"
> 
> "Ruth Busby"
> 
> "Well, Mrs. Busby has just the one son.  Yours has three older siblings to
> carry him around, when he gets tired of waiting, he'll walk".
> 
> Doc Phillips kept practicing into at least his late 70's.  It was basically
> socialized medicine, we just didn't have a label for it.  If you worked you
> were expected to pay.  There weren't many people in those little farm towns
> that didn't work.  It wasn't PC.
> 
> Common sense goes a long ways, in medicine and in life.
> 
> Brad
> 
> On 11/7/07, Robert Skinner <robert at squirrelhaven.com> wrote:
> >
> > When the lawyers became involved in triage,
> > rational decision-making was impacted.
> >
> > My old man was a doctor, and I worked in an
> > ER going thru college so I had a chance to observe
> > hospital practices in the '50s and '60s, .
> >
> > When I recently had to go with my wife to the ER, I
> > noticed that the ratio of paper-shufflers vs. real
> > medical personnel had risen sharply since the '60s.
> >
> > /Robert
> > ----------------------------------------------------
> > Tootle wrote:
> > >
> > > Brad said, I confronted her, "is he a patient or a prisoner?"  She ran
> > for
> > > one of the doctors.  Doc says, "I don't recommend leaving."
> > >
> > > "OK Doc, you've made your obligatory statement for liability purposes,
> > if
> > > this was your son would you put him through all this for a flesh wound?"
> > >
> > > "Probably not."
> > >
> > > The bill for that experience was over $6000.  Makes you wonder why
> > health
> > > care is so expensive.
> > >
> > > Can anyone say TORT REFORM?
> > >
> > > Brad"
> > >
> > > Brad, you ought to see it from the inside.  I have.  You said CAT scan.
> > > Most people and that includes emergency room nurses and doctors who
> > order
> > > the scans do not know the total exposure to radiation that those exams
> > give.
> > > Nor do they appreciate the potential results of that ionizing radiation.
> > >
> > > Yes, some has to do with liability issues.  If an emergency room doctor
> > does
> > > not order a CT Scan and the condition 'may have been' diagnosed by one
> > then
> > > he is liable.  The fact that most soft tissue injuries do not show on
> > CT's
> > > for several hours is lost in the legal system.  The fact that 98% of
> > exams
> > > are normal is irrelevant.
> > >
> > > The fact that good ER doctors can with 99.9% accuracy tell which that
> > other
> > > 2% is does not matter.  The problem is those ER doctors who should not
> > be in
> > > the ER in the first place, but are there because of the work load of
> > ER's
> > > dealing with false emergencies.  Especially the line of foreigners who
> > think
> > > that the ER is for routine medical care!
> > >
> > > I could expound on this subject, but enough said.  You did the correct
> > > thing.
> > >
> > > Only one Presidential Candidate has addressed the 'Tort Reform'
> > issue.  Who
> > > is it? (Anyone know correct answer)  I know because it is one issue that
> > > concerns me and have watched for.  This issue affects us for many
> > reasons
> > > besides the unnecessary doses of radiation.
> > >
> > > Who pays for the unnecessary medical exams?  And believe me most of the
> > ER
> > > Cat Scan's are unnecessary.  Not all, but a substantial number are and
> > are
> > > done to cover ass or at family members insistence.
> > >
> > > And the AMA is advertising heavily for universal medical
> > insurance.  Yes,
> > > vote for socialized medicine so that your grand children have three eyes
> > due
> > > to unnecessary exposure to ionizing radiation from cat scans ordered
> > because
> > > uneducated lawyers and medical personal thought they might find an
> > answer to
> > > a belly ache.
> > >
> > > May I emphasis that the effects of ionizing radiation are casually
> > taught in
> > > medical students courses.  Only future Radiologist study the nitty
> > gritty
> > > details!  No deleterious dose effect is taught to nurses and concerned
> > > family members insisting that all medical tests be done!
> > >
> > > Tort Reform should concern all!
> > >
> > > Ed K
> > > Greenville, SC, USA
> > > "It is every man's obligation to put back into the world at least the
> > > equivalent of what he takes out of it."   Albert Einstein
> > >
> > > --
> > > View this message in context:
> > http://www.nabble.com/Flying-Video-tf4743146.html#a13627158
> > > Sent from the Rhodes 22 mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
> > >
> > > __________________________________________________
> > > Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> >
> > --
> > Robert Skinner  "Squirrel Haven"
> > Gorham, Maine         04038-1331
> > s/v "Little Dipper" & "Edith P."
> > __________________________________________________
> > Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> >
> __________________________________________________
> Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list

-- 
Robert Skinner  "Squirrel Haven" 
Gorham, Maine         04038-1331
s/v "Little Dipper" & "Edith P."